[Moondruid] Synapse Springs (Handy Weak Aura Included)

Hi, recently in a different thread we got into a discussion about synapse springs and how to use them. I figured I'd make this thread to help out fellow engineeringkins who may not be getting the full use out of their Synapse Springs.

A lot of moonkins go engineering because the springs are theoretically the best dps increase we can get from a profession. This is true, but only if we use them correctly. If you don't use them seven times in a seven minute fight you're better off with something like blacksmithing for an extra crit gem. If you want to be lazy and macro them into some other ability than you might as well just get any other static buff because you're not using them to their full potential. So, when should you be using them?

First, always use them with Celestial Alignment. This is where throwing them into a macro is a good idea. Its just one more buff to stack with our awesome cooldowns, and its a good idea.

Second, you don't want them in a macro for wrath, starfire, or your dots. No macros! Not only will they fail to activate on CD when spamming buttons, when they do go off it'll happen at poopy times like when spamming uneclipsed wraths. You want to manually activate them at the start of a lunar eclipse. This will buff 4-5 nukes, your starfall, and ideally your dots as well. You'll get the most damage potential out of them by doing this and it will be a noticeable dps gain. This is because of the way eclipse works.

Sometimes, however, you will want to activate them at the start of solar if a) Celestial Alignment has just over a minute before coming off cooldown and you don't want to miss an activation. Or b) if fight length will mean prolonging an activation causes you to lose a springs at the end of the fight. The key is to always use them in an eclipse though, so they get further buffed by our mastery.

Averaged out over the course of a fight the springs, on paper, equal about 320 int. However, when you are clever with your Synapse Springs, they actually become 18-20% more powerful - and only get more powerful with more gear. Something no other profession can give you. This is thanks to our mastery giving a damage boost to eclipse.

Now, if you're like me, you probably will forget to activate them ALL THE TIME. When you do this you effectively don't even have a 2nd profession which is pretty silly. So, whats the solution? Weak Auras of course! I made this aura to train myself to use them once per minute. What it does is light up button 11 on bartender (looks like a starsurge proc) and trigger Emeril's "BAM!" sound. Its obnoxious, and you'll never miss the cooldown. Obviously, you can go through and edit it to suite your needs - put it on a different button, change the name of your gloves, get rid of the sound effect, etc. One thing to keep in mind is that you can't use a "/use 10" macro for your springs as it breaks the Weak Aura. You have to actually put your gloves on your bar, and, every time you get new gloves you'll have to edit the aura. A little bit of maintanence is a small price to pay in my opinion. Anyway, Here's the Weak Aura import. Don't forget to remove any and all spaces, otherwise it wont work.